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CURRENT STUDENTS

OU Law enrolls approximately 500 students annually in its Juris Doctor (JD) and Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree programs. The John B. Turner LL.M. Program attracts students worldwide wishing to specialize in the college’s core areas: energy, natural resources and Native American law. Students also have the opportunity to earn joint degrees, travel abroad and gain practical experience through numerous clinics, competitions and legal publications at OU Law. They also provide valuable legal services to the public through the OU Legal Clinic and Students for Access to Justice.

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FACULTY / STAFF

The University of Oklahoma College of Law has retained an outstanding full-time law faculty to provide our students with an unequalled legal education experience. Combined with the numerous adjunct specialists who teach various subjects from the practitioner's point of view, we have assembled an exceptional instructional corps.

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ALUMNI / DONORS

We are so appreciative of the support OU College of Law receives from donors. Their support enhances our academic and scholarship programs, allowing OU Law to provide a quality legal education at a reasonable cost.

When I meet with alumni, I am always amazed to discover how many have never made it back to Norman. While I encourage you to come tour the campus (you won’t believe the changes!), I am equally as eager to come visit you in your hometowns. I hope to see you at an upcoming alumni event.

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VISITORS

The University of Oklahoma College of Law is one of our nation’s great public law schools. Founded in 1909, OU Law provides a dynamic intellectual community dedicated to teaching, learning, research and service in the pursuit of law and justice. OU Law delivers an exemplary legal education at an accessible cost to students and is consistently recognized as a “Best Value” law school by National Jurist magazine.

ABOUT OU LAW

Founded in 1909, the University of Oklahoma College of Law is one of the great public law schools in the nation with small sections and class sizes that encourage a strong sense of community, accomplished faculty who boast international expertise and a state-of-the-art facility featuring study rooms, court rooms and classrooms equipped with the latest technology.

MISSION

The University of Oklahoma College of Law, as part of the Oklahoma Law Center, seeks to provide a dynamic intellectual community dedicated to teaching and learning, research and service in the pursuit of law and justice as its students incorporate their legal training in preparation for the practice of law, judicial service and other leadership positions in Oklahoma, the nation and the world.

HISTORY

The College of Law has progressed quite a bit since Julien C. Monnet founded it and in 1909. From its humble beginnings of Dean Monnet, two faculty members, and 47 students, the College of Law has grown to become the preeminent legal institution in the state. In 1914, thanks to the incessant lobbying of state legislators by law students for funding its construction, the college moved into its first permanent home, Monnet Hall.

The 47,000-square-foot Law Barn, as it was affectionately known, was home to the college for 62 years. As the home of the College of Law, it was witness to many events in Oklahoma (and American) history, including the admission of then-future OU Regent Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher, the first black woman admitted to the College of Law, in 1948. Other notable graduates include former US Senator and current OU President David L. Boren, former Oklahoma Governors Frank Keating and Brad Henry and former Oklahoma County District Attorney and current Dean Emeritus Andrew M. Coats.

Despite the additional square footage built onto the rear of Monnet Hall, the Law Center, which the College of Law and its associated entities came to be called in 1971, outgrew the building, forcing a relocation to its current home on Timberdell Road in 1976. But it didn't end there. Adding the American Indian Law Review to complement the established Oklahoma Law Review, expanding clinical legal education, and generally striving to meet the increasing demands of legal education in the late 20th century caused OU Law to once again outgrow its facilities.

In October 1999, ground was broken on a $19 million construction and renovation project which ultimately added 80,000 square feet to the facility, featuring the 58,000 square foot Donald E. Pray Law Library and the 250-seat Dick Bell Courtroom. The new library features the Chapman Reading room, modeled after the reading room in Monnet Hall, with a parquet floor reminiscent of the floors in the Louvre. The Donald E. Pray Law Library, which is open to the public, boasts the largest law collection, public or private, in the state. The Dick Bell Courtroom is one of the largest and most technologically advanced courtrooms in the region, if not the nation, and hosts live trials from the various courts in central Oklahoma. The Bell Courtroom has hosted appellate cases from both the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals (including a death penalty appeal) and the US Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, as well as civil trials from the US District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma.

ABA REQUIRED DISCLOSURES

The American Bar Association requires all law schools to publish specific information online every year. This information can be found here (opens in a new window).

OU LAW BLOG

Before the start of each semester, students enrolled in the International Human Rights Clinic travel to select foreign countries to make preliminary observations and visit with government officials and stakeholders about issues impacting the nation’s indigenous populations. Throughout the subsequent semester, students combine the experiences from their travels with international law research to draft a “shadow report,” which is submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland. Their research and conclusions are also presented before a university audience.